MADISON -- In anticipation of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, Bishop Robert C. Morlino has invited all to join him in a three-day intensified prayer and fasting to build and support the Culture of Life.

The three-day prayer and fasting begins on December 9 and leads through December 11, the day before the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of the Rosary and patron of the Americas.

"So many of you continue to do a great deal, and for that I am so very grateful," Bishop Morlino wrote in a letter posted on the Diocese of Madison Web site, www.madisondiocese.org (PDF). He commended pro-lifers for their efforts to build and restore a just society through praying at abortion facilities, advocating chastity, helping pregnant mothers in crisis, and petitioning legislators.

"The very heart of efforts such as these, however, should always be prayer and the deepening intimacy each of us shares with Jesus Christ -- in and through His Church," the bishop continued. "Therefore, when approached and petitioned by a group of active pro-life individuals to call for and encourage three days of prayer and fasting in preparation for the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I embraced this sentiment with joyful and hopeful enthusiasm that we may most effectively serve and support this most critical cause of our time."

The three-day prayer and fast is encouraged for all Catholics in the diocese to ask God for a "restored respect and protection of the vulnerable among us." Catholic teaching strongly emphasizes the respect for the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death.

The fast does not necessarily require refraining from food or drink; abstaining from use of the Internet or watching television can be appropriate, the bishop wrote.